Applying CPU/PSU Patches to Oracle EBS R12.2.x

An optimal way to apply CPU/PSU patches to Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2.x.

By: Praveen SreedharLead DBA, ennVee

Each quarter, Oracle releases new Critical Patch Updates (CPU) / Patch Set Updates (PSU). In this article, we discuss applying these patches to Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) along with the Oracle MOS id references.

In Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) we have various tech stack components. It’s important to apply the critical patch update (CPU) to all of these components.

The components include:

Forms and Reports

Fusion Middleware – Web Tier

Fusion Middleware – oracle_common Home

WebLogic.

Database (Don’t get confused here; Database is also a component of EBS application. This also needs to be considered while applying the patches to EBS environment)

First, it’s better to apply patches the latest Quarterly patches to DB tier and then to Apps/Middle Tier. For the DB tier, I strongly advise applying the Patch Set Update (PSU) instead of Critical Patch Update (CPU). PSU contains many proactive and stabilization fixes for issues that you may have encountered already or are going to encounter in the near future. These fixes will have the learnings from the issues arisen across the customers of Oracle. PSU also includes Critical Patch Update (CPU) along with proactive stabilization fixes.

Database Tier

First, always try to apply the latest PSU patch available along with OJVM patch. Always latest.

Second, run the EBS Technology Code level Checker (ETCC). The ETCC script can be downloaded from the Patch 17537119. Always run the latest one while running ETCC.

ETCC has two scripts:

sh:This script needs to be run in DB tier.

sh: This script needs to be run in Apps tier.

Run the checkDBpatch.sh script against the database and identify the patches that need to be applied.

Third, if you are on Exadata or Superclusters, you need to apply the Proactive Bundle Patch(BP). You need to select the right release when downloading the patch. Consider the newly applied PSU patch release.

Fourth, apply the overlay patches. Overlay patches are answers for conflict patches. Some patches don’t co-exist with the latest PSU patches. In such scenarios, you need to consider patches which can co-exist with the latest PSU patch).

Finally, Run the DB tier ETCC script, check the missing patches, and act on the missing patches.

Middle Tier

For EBS, Oracle is only releasing Critical Patch Update (CPU) and not PSU (unlike Database). This is important for every Apps DBA to remember if they try to apply quarterly release patches to EBS components.

It is important to apply the patches to all of the above tech stack components in EBS. During this phase there are certain pre-requisites that we need to apply in case the pre-requisites do not exist in the system.

Apart from CPU patches to Oracle E-Business Suite, there are also certain proactive Stabilization fixes for all components. Apps DBAs should remember to apply all of these proactive fixes if they are considering applying the Critical Patch Update (CPU) to their environment. The above Oracle Note references this, but not in detail.

The MOS id (below) outlines the steps for checking all proactive fixes for EBS components.

While checking the patches for each component, there is potential for some conflict patches. Sometimes, both can’t co-exist. If this occurs, try to get the combination patch. If you weren’t able to resolve this from the Oracle support site, it is always better to raise an SR with Oracle to get the new patches. Most of the time, Oracle has already encountered this scenario with other customers and the solution might be available to you immediately.

One more thing, it’s always better to run the EBS Technology Code level Checker (ETCC) before and after the above exercise.

After applying the patches, if you find any suggestion from checkMTpatch.sh, please consider applying those missing patches as well. This is a type of checker for you to identify if you have missed any patches. This ETCC script primarily covers all of the proactive fixes but not the Critical Patch Update.

Both CPU and PSU are cumulative, so you don’t have to worry if you’re skipping one release and applying the latest one.